Brian Docherty
Socialist realism: an existential drama
The searchlight turned the edge of the forest
into a stage. No overture, the style late Brecht.
Josef froze. Walter’s whisper. Dash for the gap
in the fence grown by the Resistance earlier.
The noon floated 10 seconds of light across the sky.
Fragments of shirt and coat decorate the wire.
A path birched their faces blind to the river
marking the border some maps said did not exist.
A bank of gravel wide enough to break their hearts.
They crunched through a mime of fear. Harsh voices
and dogs rushed closer, closer. No bridge. DOGS.
On the opposite bank a torch stabbed out semaphore.
The ford is here. Here. Here. Dogs as Noises Off.
Splash, stumble, towards the voice of the waitress
from the Cafe Marine, a promise of a waiting car.
They sped into the night towards their rendezvous.
Machine guns barked into the indifferent dark.
She spoke. “I an Maria. The elephants are pink
tonight.” Josef replied. “So they are but not in
Albania.” Walter stared out. Was this freedom ?
Page(s) 106
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